Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL)http://www.se4all.org
enNew report guides governments on designing off-grid solar policieshttp://www.se4all.org/content/new-report-guides-governments-designing-off-grid-solar-policies
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The significant role that off-grid, decentralized energy solutions can play in achieving universal energy access goals is no longer a subject of debate. As off-grid technology costs keep falling, the <a href="https://www.iea.org" target="_blank">International Energy Agency (IEA)</a><span class="ext"></span> recently estimated that by 2030, 195 million people, or 29% of the world’s unelectrified population, will gain electricity from off-grid solutions, especially off-grid solar.</p>
<p>But what will it take to accelerate investment so that the off-grid sector can meet or exceed the IEA’s forecast? One of the key drivers is supportive government policies and regulations that incentivize public and private sector participation in the fast-growing space.</p>
<p>If governments do not send the right policy signals – which is the case in many countries, judging from the Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy <a href="http://www.seforall.org/sites/default/files/RISE-2016-Report.pdf" target="_blank">(RISE) report</a><span class="ext"></span> released earlier this year – the off-grid sector’s vast potential will not be realized.</p>
<p>To help support this, <a href="https://www.gogla.org/" target="_blank">Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA),</a><span class="ext"></span> in partnership with <a href="https://www.lightingglobal.org/" target="_blank">Lighting Global</a><span class="ext"></span>, <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/powerafrica" target="_blank">Power Africa</a><span class="ext"></span>, the <a href="https://www.afdb.org/en/topics-and-sectors/sectors/energy-power/" target="_blank">African Development Bank</a><span class="ext"></span> and Sustainable Energy for All, have produced a new report looking at key policy and regulatory issues for off-grid solar.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.gogla.org/sites/default/files/resource_docs/energy_access_through_off-grid_solar_-_guidance_for_govts.pdf" target="_blank"><em>Providing Energy Access Through Off-Grid Solar: Guidance for Governments</em></a><span class="ext"></span> offers advice to governments in designing effective policies and regulations that will enable the off-grid solar sector to have a far bigger role as part of integrated national electrification strategies.</p>
<p>The guide outlines the core elements of supportive policy frameworks that have been shown to work in accelerating electricity access in key markets. It also provides best practice examples and resource references, with input from companies, development finance players and other stakeholders operating in Africa, South Asia and other key regions, that governments can learn from. By raising awareness and highlighting successful policies that can be replicated, the report’s authors hope to catalyze improved policy decision-making in other countries that will further advance energy access goals.</p>
<p>Photo credit: Climate Investment Funds</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>RELATED NEWS</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/rise-sustainable-energy-policies">New RISE report scores sustainable energy policies</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/solar-shining-emerging-markets-shadows-remain">Solar Shining in Emerging Markets, but Shadows Remain</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/why-wait-report-quantifies-benefits-accelerating-electricity-access">"Why Wait" report quantifies benefits of accelerating electricity access</a></p>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div>Fri, 08 Dec 2017 00:50:08 +0000admin6749 at http://www.se4all.orgKigali Amendment progress is big step forward for tackling climate changehttp://www.se4all.org/content/kigali-amendment-progress-big-step-forward-tackling-climate-change
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>By Peyton Fleming, Lead Writer, Sustainable Energy for All</p>
<p>Global climate action got a big boost last month at two international meetings in Germany and Canada.</p>
<p>On Nov. 18, just hours before the UN Climate Conference (COP23) ended in Germany, Sweden became the 20th country to ratify the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol – which requires the phasedown of high-polluting refrigerants commonly used in air conditioners and other cooling equipment. The treaty, which calls for curbing use of these chemicals by more than 80 percent over the next 30 years, will now be entered into force in January 2019.</p>
<p>One week later, at the 30<sup>th</sup> anniversary meeting of the Montreal Protocol in Montreal, Canada, parties agreed to a three-year replenishment of $540 million to fund the continuing phaseout of the refrigerants, known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). They also backed key findings of a new Technology &amp; Economic Assessment Panel <a href="http://conf.montreal-protocol.org/meeting/mop/cop11-mop29/presession/Background-Documents/TEAP-EEWG-Report-october2017.pdf" target="_blank">study</a><span class="ext"></span> highlighting the wide-ranging opportunities for energy efficiency gains in the HFC phasedown under the Kigali Agreement.</p>
<p>“Kigali will deliver new momentum to the world’s efforts to avoid dangerous global warming and accelerate clean growth,” said <strong>Canada Environment Minister Catherine McKenna</strong>, speaking in Montreal last month. “I'm very proud that Canada is among the leaders in ratifying this amendment.”</p>
<p>The twin ripples of these actions are hugely important. Energy efficiency gains alone have the potential to avoid significant CO2 emissions, equal to production from up to 1,600 medium-sized peak-load power plants by 2030 and up to 2,500 by 2050, according to estimates by the <a href="https://eta.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/publications/lbnl-1003671.pdf" target="_blank">Lawrence Berkley Laboratory</a><span class="ext"></span>.</p>
<p>Combining the HFC phasedown with energy efficiency gains in cooling could help avoid as much as <a href="http://www.igsd.org/montreal-protocol-concludes-30th-anniversary-meeting-with-robust-replenishment-and-progress-on-energy-efficiency/" target="_blank">1 degree Celsius</a><span class="ext"></span> of global warming by 2100. “The 1 degree Celsius of avoided warming may be the most significant contribution the world could make to the goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement,” said <strong>Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance &amp; Sustainable Development,</strong> who participated in the Montreal Protocol meetings.</p>
<p>But achieving these pollution reductions will require extraordinary changes from global leaders working to deliver sustainable cooling solutions to everyone on the planet. Over 1 billion people worldwide do not have access to energy, and therefore lack access to basic cooling technologies; from refrigeration for food and medical supplies to keeping work and home environments safe and cool to deal with ever-rising global temperatures.</p>
<p>Closing the world’s cooling access gap is the focus of Sustainable Energy for All’s <a href="http://www.seforall.org/CoolingForAll">“Cooling for All”</a> initiative, which will focus on creating a direct intersection between three internationally agreed upon goals for the first time: the Paris Climate Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Kigali Amendment.</p>
<p>As part of this effort, a <a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/cooling-for-all-announces-new-global-panel-co-chairs-and-members">Global Panel on Access to Cooling</a> was formed earlier this year. The panel brings together high-level leaders from government, academia, civil society, business and finance who will work together to better understand the challenges and opportunities of providing access to cooling solutions for all, including vulnerable populations in the world’s poorest countries.</p>
<p>Several panel members expressed optimism about the recent progress on the Kigali Amendment front – in particular, the stronger focus on energy efficiency.</p>
<p>“The recent meeting in Montreal was another positive step for the Montreal Protocol’s contribution to realizing the huge opportunity from cooling efficiency,” said <strong>Dan Hamza-Goodcare, Executive Director of the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program</strong>, which is funding the Cooling for All effort. “Participants recognized the critical role of maintaining cooling technology stock and the urgency for higher product standards. More work is also needed on financing mechanisms to unlock the economic and health benefits from cooling efficiency across the world.”</p>
<p><strong>Jürgen Fischer, President of Danfoss Cooling</strong>, says there are significant environmental risks if clean, super-efficient solutions are not used to meet fast-rising cooling demand.</p>
<p>“As a market leader within technology using low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants, Danfoss and the cooling industry are ready to make it possible for countries to implement the (Kigali) amendment,” Fischer said. “We see this as the first step, and expect that the use of low GWP refrigerants will lead to more energy efficient solutions. We can already start today, as the technology is available and cooling and heating systems can be improved with big success in a cost-effective way.”</p>
<p>The panel, co-chaired by government leaders from the Rwanda and the Marshall Islands, will be producing a comprehensive report in 2018 that offers evidence based solutions on how we can accelerate the uptake of efficient and sustainable cooling solutions at the speed and scale needed.</p>
<p>Photo credit: CWCS</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>RELATED NEWS</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/cooling-for-all-initiative-announced">“Cooling for All” initiative announced to address growing challenge of providing cooling solutions for all</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/cooling-for-all-announces-new-global-panel-co-chairs-and-members">“Cooling for All” announces new Global Panel co-chairs and members</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/tackling-global-cooling-warmer-world">Tackling Global Cooling in a Warmer World</a></p>
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</div></div></div>Thu, 07 Dec 2017 07:46:20 +0000admin6746 at http://www.se4all.orgGlobal Off-Grid Solar Forum and Expo http://www.se4all.org/content/global-grid-solar-forum-and-expo
<div class="field field-name-field-date field-type-datetime field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Date:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-range"><span class="date-display-start" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2018-01-22T09:00:00+00:00">Monday, January 22, 2018 - 09:00</span> to <span class="date-display-end" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2018-01-24T17:00:00+00:00">Wednesday, January 24, 2018 - 17:00</span></span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-location field-type-text field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Location:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Hong Kong </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-title field-type-ds field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="dc:title"><h2>Global Off-Grid Solar Forum and Expo </h2></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Organized by the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA) and the IFC/World Bank Lighting Global program, the Global Off-Grid Solar Forum and Expo the world’s premier off-grid solar event. The conference and exhibition are supported by the World Bank’s ESMAP program and will be held from 22nd to 24th of January 2018 in Hong Kong.</p>
<p>The Forum will gather more than 500 off-grid solar companies, public and commercial investors, sector facilitators, government representatives and off-grid energy experts. More than 60 companies and organizations will have the opportunity to showcase their off-grid solar products and services at the world’s leading off-grid solar exhibition.</p>
<p>As an attendee, you will be able to profit from insights into the global off-grid solar market shared by more than 500 practitioners and experts. Take a look at the latest agenda and visit the event website for additional details.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-website field-type-link-field field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Website:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="https://www.offgridsolarforum.org/" target="_blank">https://www.offgridsolarforum.org/</a></div></div></div>Fri, 01 Dec 2017 21:44:55 +0000alessandrag6738 at http://www.se4all.orgSolar Shining in Emerging Markets, but Shadows Remainhttp://www.se4all.org/content/solar-shining-emerging-markets-shadows-remain
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>By Peyton Fleming, Lead Writer, Sustainable Energy for All</p>
<p>Nov. 30, 2017: Whether it’s solar home systems in Africa or solar irrigation pumps in India, lower-cost, more innovative solar technologies are growing at a rapid pace in emerging markets. But its impact and reach would be far more profound if supportive government policies and greater financing were available.</p>
<p>These are the key takeaways of Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s (BNEF) new <a href="http://global-climatescope.org/en/" target="_blank">Climatescope 2017</a><span class="ext"></span> report, which looks at clean energy market conditions and opportunities in 71 emerging market countries, accounting for over 70% of the global population.</p>
<p>“The massive drop in photovoltaic module prices we’ve seen over the last several years continues to reverberate through developing countries,” says <strong>Ethan Zindler, Head of Americas, BNEF</strong>. “It’s creating opportunities ranging from multi-million dollar projects that serve the grid, to small-scale installations that enable farmers to boost their yields through better irrigation and to connect to the Internet.”</p>
<p>Headline figures include:</p>
<ul><li>A total of 34 gigawatts of new solar generating capacity came on line in 2016 in the 71 countries, up from 22 gigawatts in 2015 and 3 gigawatts in 2011. Capacity added in 2016 alone would meet the total annual electricity demands of 45 million homes in India or of every home in Nigeria.</li>
<li>The number of solar irrigation pumps installed in India reached 128,000 in May, up from just 12,000 in April 2014.</li>
<li>More than 1.5 million households in Africa now use solar home systems that were bought on a mobile-money enabled financing plan, up from just 600,000 at the end of 2015. “This business model is no longer niche and has closed some of the largest deals this year,” wrote BNEF, referencing big <a href="https://afkinsider.com/141358/why-pay-as-you-go-solar-companies-are-raising-big-bucks-in-africa/" target="_blank">financing packages</a><span class="ext"></span> for companies like Azuri Technologies and M-KOPA Solar.</li>
</ul><p>But the picture isn’t entirely rosy on Sustainable Energy for All’s (SEforALL) core objectives – achieving universal access to <a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/seforall-launches-newly-updated-heat-maps">sustainable energy</a> by 2030 (Sustainable Development Goal 7), while meeting the bold ambitions of the Paris Climate Agreement.</p>
<p>On the money side, total clean energy investment in non-OECD countries fell by $40.2 billion last year, to $114.4 billion in 2016 from $151.6 billion in 2015. While China accounted for three-quarters of the decline, investments in other non-OECD countries were also off by 25 percent.</p>
<p>The lower figures are partially the result of project costs coming down. Another factor is weak national policy frameworks that, if clearer and stronger, would incentivize more investment. Based on 43 data indicators and 179 sub-indicators, BNEF scored all 71 countries on a 0 -5 basis, based on their policy frameworks and overall clean energy landscapes. Among the key findings:</p>
<ul><li>For the first time since Climatescope was launched four years ago, overall average scores fell, dropping to 1.19 this year, compared to 1.35 in last year’s survey. The numbers were skewed somewhat by the addition of 13 new countries from Central Asia and Europe, many of which scored low.</li>
<li>Of the 71 countries surveyed, only two-thirds (67%) have established feed-in tariffs or auctions to support clean energy projects and only 18% have set domestic greenhouse gas emissions reduction policies. “Without such policies in place, investors are inevitably reluctant to deploy capital,” BNEF wrote in its report.</li>
<li>As SEforALL and the World Bank saw in the <a href="http://www.seforall.org/rise">Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE) report</a> earlier this year, countries with strong policy environments are attracting more financing. A notable example is Mexico; thanks to energy reforms and the recent introduction of power auctions, new-build renewable energy investments have jumped nearly four-fold from 2016 to Q3 2017. Similarly, Argentina has attracted $1.7 billion for renewable energy plants so far in 2017 after adopting supportive market reforms and policy frameworks.</li>
</ul><p>Photo credit: Dominic Chavez/World Bank</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>RELATED NEWS</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/why-wait-report-quantifies-benefits-accelerating-electricity-access"><em>Why Wait? Seizing the Energy Access Dividend</em> report quantifies the benefits of accelerating electricity access.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/reports-show-finance-needed-global-goals-2030"><em>Energizing Finance</em> research shows much greater finance needed to achieve global goals to close electricity and clean cooking access gaps by 2030.</a></p>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div>Thu, 30 Nov 2017 12:14:39 +0000admin6737 at http://www.se4all.orgSEforALL network grows with new partners to support faster progress on Sustainable Development Goal 7http://www.se4all.org/content/seforall-network-grows-new-partners-support-faster-progress-sustainable-development-goal-7
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Nov. 27, 2017: Following a busy couple of weeks at COP23 - the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany - Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) has welcomed and signed multiple new partnership agreements.</p>
<p>These new partners join other leading organizations, businesses and experts within the SEforALL network that are all committed to supporting faster progress in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 – access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.</p>
<p>New proud, delivery and UN partners to join the SEforALL network during COP23 includes:</p>
<p style="padding-top: 10px;"><strong>UN Environment</strong>:</p>
<p>This partnership allows us to deliver significant progress in the energy efficiency and energy productivity space. It will focus on the Energy Efficiency Hub and Accelerators work, the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol (especially creation of publications and commissioning of research about the nexus of cooling, efficiency and access), communication efforts in the context of major global meetings, and new initiatives in this area that could be explored along the way.</p>
<p style="padding-top: 10px;"><strong>Johnson Controls</strong>:</p>
<p>The collaboration will help to identify priority countries in the field of buildings efficiency. Johnson Controls will continue to lead the Building Efficiency Accelerator as industry co-convener, contributing to the SEforALL District Energy Accelerator and Industrial Efficiency Accelerator, as well as engaging in the new SEforALL initiative “<a href="http://www.seforall.org/coolingforall">Cooling for All</a>”.</p>
<p style="padding-top: 10px;"><strong>SNV</strong>:</p>
<p>This partnership will develop an enabling market environment for last-mile distribution of solar powered products in Africa, and support the shaping of solar markets through ‘lessons learned’ knowledge sharing by involving private sector expertise.</p>
<p style="padding-top: 10px;"><strong>International Hydropower Association:</strong></p>
<p>This collaboration will advocate knowledge-building activities around hydropower and support the work of the “Better Hydro” umbrella initiative and the Hydropower Preparation Support Facility (HPSF).</p>
<p style="padding-top: 10px;"><strong>Terrawatt:</strong></p>
<p>The proud partnership will enhance global efforts for accelerating the adoption of clean energy and unlocking significant economic and societal benefits. This will be done through promoting programs and facilities to reduce cost of solar power, encourage country level reforms in solar energy, and support the launch of a common risk mitigation mechanism as a tool to create a secure environment for private institutional investment in solar assets.</p>
<p style="padding-top: 10px;"><strong>EurElectric</strong>:</p>
<p>This partnership will promote last mile solutions for refugee settlements and host communities along with UNHCR, facilitate private sector engagement, and will stimulate discussions on renewable energy policy around unlocking finance in renewable energy investments and large-scale shifts towards electrification of the transport sector.</p>
<p style="padding-top: 10px;"><strong>Benedikt Hoskuldsson, Lead Partnership Specialist at Sustainable Energy for All</strong>, said: “SEforALL is focused on building partnerships that can deliver tangible action toward universal, sustainable energy access. If we’re to achieve this by 2030 as set out in Sustainable Development Goal 7, partnerships will be crucial to move at the speed and scale the world needs. By partnering with SEforALL, these organizations bring their expertise and leadership to a much wider audience of sustainable energy policy makers and practitioners so we can go further, faster – together – to SDG7.”</p>
<p>SEforALL partnerships can focus on various areas of work, from knowledge and evidence needed to inform action, to others that focus on delivering concrete action and results on the ground.</p>
<p>To find out more information on partnerships with SEforALL, visit our <a href="http://www.seforall.org/partners">Partners page.</a></p>
<div style="margin-top: 30px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><img class="img-responsive" src="/sites/default/files/partnerscop23.jpg" style="margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; margin-bottom:10px;" /><span style="font-size: 10pt; display: table; margin: 0 auto;">From left to right. Top row: Clay Nesler, Vice President, Global Energy and Sustainability for the Building Efficiency business, Johnson Controls, Tom Derksen, Managing Director – Energy, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation. Bottom row: Jean-Pascal Pham-Ba, Secretary General, Terrawatt Initiative, Erik Solheim, Executive Director, UN Environment.</span></div>
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</div></div></div>Mon, 27 Nov 2017 17:30:23 +0000admin6736 at http://www.se4all.orgCoal Cannot End Povertyhttp://www.se4all.org/content/coal-cannot-end-poverty
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><strong><em>Why Countries Around the World Are Committing to Phasing Out Coal</em></strong></p>
<p><em>By Rachel Kyte, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL). This article first appeared on </em><a href="https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-coal-cannot-end-poverty-here-s-what-can-91605" target="_blank"><em>Devex</em></a><span class="ext"></span>.</p>
<p style="margin-top: 25px;">Nov. 22, 2017: For many decades, the path of choice for closing global energy access gaps was extending electric grids and powering them with coal. Yet, even after spending trillions, grids today are still not reaching populations in secluded communities around the world, including the edges of cities, slums and remote rural areas. Even more toil with intermittent power from grids that are woefully inadequate.</p>
<p>For <a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/2017-global-tracking-framework-report-clarion-call-leaders">1 billion</a> people still lacking access to clean affordable electricity, daily living is a struggle. It’s difficult to enjoy reliable health care without power. It’s hard to stay warm in a classroom, let alone concentrate, if you’re cold. It’s hard to run a business profitably if the power is out for longer than it is on. It’s hard to start a business, cool crops and pump water without power.</p>
<p>Closing these energy gaps is an essential component for bringing emerging countries into the modern global economy. Countries in <a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/seforall-launches-newly-updated-heat-maps">Sub-Saharan Africa</a> and South Asia have the biggest gaps, but energy poverty also exists in island nations, indigenous populations, the highlands of the Latin America and other parts of Asia.</p>
<p>How do we reach those under-served populations more quickly and affordably? Do we wait for grids to be built and shoulder the huge expense of extending them to small communities in far-flung locations where the poorest, most-marginalized people live. Is there a legitimate role for installing more coal capacity into our future power grids, as President Trump and his team suggested at the UN Climate Conference (COP23) last week in Germany?</p>
<p>Or is there a more affordable path, a cleaner and safer path?</p>
<p>Today, the quickest way to connect these under-served populations and increase their contribution to local economies, to better educate their children, to enhance access to health services, is by leveraging abundant, ever-cheaper renewable energy resources. With similar or less financial support that is flowing to grids and with regulatory environments that allow them to co-exist with grids, decentralized and distributed renewable energy, such as solar, can provide a quicker, cleaner energy system for all.</p>
<p>These clean energy solutions are especially attractive if we factor in the social cost of carbon pollution that comes from coal. Coal-related air pollution kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. It also hurts agriculture productivity and broader economic productivity. That is why the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, three Pacific Island Nations, Angola, the Netherlands and nine other European countries—as part of a new alliance of more than 25 countries, provinces and American states—<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/660041/powering-past-coal-alliance.pdf" target="_blank">committed to phasing out coal</a><span class="ext"></span> last Thursday in Bonn.</p>
<p>Look no further than India, where lung-choking smog in the city’s capital shuttered 4,000 schools this month. “I don’t know if anyone has been to New Delhi recently, but you can’t breathe,” said India solar entrepreneur Ajaita Shah, who joined me on a panel at COP23 last week. “Our ‘efficient,’ ‘clean coal’ solutions are creating this smog.”</p>
<p>Another cost, of course, is coal’s vast footprint on global warming. It has been the biggest contributor by far, and it’s a reality we cannot ignore.</p>
<p>As a citizen of the United Kingdom, I know that our 19<sup>th</sup> and 20<sup>th</sup> centuries were shaped – prosperously – by coal. Those who mined it or used it for forging and smelting materials that built our world were proud contributors to past industrial revolutions. But the environmental harm of coal wasn’t known, and vested interests that did eventually study its damaging impacts shielded it from the public.</p>
<p>Now that coal’s indelible impact on the planet and our health is clear, it is time to move on. With cost-effective alternatives in our hands, we must do everything we can to support renewable energy. That means pricing carbon pollution and ending fossil fuel subsidies. It also means investing in the transition for communities whose proud traditions should be honored, but will not shape our children’s future.</p>
<p>“Your future does not have to be your past,” Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, whose city is shedding its coal-mining and steel-making legacy for a green future, said at COP23. “Time goes in only one direction. If you wait for the mills and mines to reopen, you’ll be left in the past.”</p>
<p>That some in the coal industry fight its decline is understandable, but it doesn’t make them right. It surely doesn’t make coal the answer for meeting the energy needs of the world’s most vulnerable populations– those with no access to energy. Suggestions of coal-fired power being pumped into grids that do not exist for these populations are disingenuous. This approach is not about ending energy poverty, it’s about providing a next generation of government payouts to a slurry of companies – many of them already in bankruptcy – to stay in a business that is in terminal decline.</p>
<p>This money can be much better spent on the future livelihoods of families with legacy ties to coal mining and, in a far bigger way, on immediate energy solutions like home solar systems, mini grids, and distributed systems integrated with battery storage.</p>
<p>As my friend Christiana Figueres, who helped win global approval of the Paris Climate Agreement, likes to say, coal had its day, it served many people well, but now it is time for it to retire.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>RELATED NEWS</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/seforall-cop23-wrap-up">SEforALL COP23 Wrap-Up: Encouraging signs, but challenges remain</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/tangible-benefits-accelerating-electricity-access-developing-countries-where-one-billion-still-lack-power">Tangible benefits of accelerating electricity access in developing countries where 1 billion still lack power</a></p>
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</div></div></div>Wed, 22 Nov 2017 22:11:00 +0000admin6735 at http://www.se4all.orgSEforALL COP23 Wrap-Up: Encouraging signs, but challenges remainhttp://www.se4all.org/content/seforall-cop23-wrap-up
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>BONN, Germany - The UN Climate Conference (COP23) that ended on Saturday here produced important gains on several key issues for Sustainable Energy for All, but big challenges remain.</p>
<p>Held in sprawling white-domed meeting areas along the Rhine River, COP23’s primary purpose was to advance progress for a successful, inclusive and ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement, the historic global accord that calls for slowing greenhouse gas emissions to limit climate warming to below 2 degrees Celsius.</p>
<p>Among the key issues that emerged during two weeks of discussion on transforming the accord’s bold ambition into reality: phasing out coal and fossil fuels; giving sub-national actors, such as businesses and states, a bigger role; elevating women’s participation and leaving no one behind in the global clean energy transition.</p>
<p><strong>A Paris Agreement for <em>all</em></strong></p>
<p>Women’s empowerment and social inclusion got deservedly more attention on the global stage for tackling climate change and achieving sustainable energy access for all, most noticeably through the Gender Action Plan agreed for the first time during a COP. Leaving no one behind – whether ‘last mile’ populations living in energy poverty or coal-centered regions threatened by a low-carbon future – also gained more traction.</p>
<p>“Part of the ambition of the Paris Agreement was to ‘leave no one behind.’ To keep this promise, we need to think differently about how we deliver affordable, reliable and modern energy services to those who are most marginalized,” said Rachel Kyte, Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General and CEO, Sustainable Energy for All, in announcing a new <a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/women-rising-sustainable-energy-and-ending-energy-poverty">People-Centered Accelerator</a> initiative at COP23 that aims to accelerate women’s involvement sustainable energy and energy access efforts across the world.</p>
<div style="margin-top: 30px; margin-bottom: 30px;"><img class="img-responsive" src="/sites/default/files/tudjb.jpg" style="margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; margin-bottom:10px;" /><span style="font-size: 10pt; display: table; margin: 0 auto;">COP23 High-Level Plenary - Urban Energy/Transport Nexus: Jerry Brown, Governor, California</span></div>
<p><strong>Reducing fossil fuel’s shadow</strong></p>
<p>Yet, the big-picture COP challenges remain as colossal as ever, a point made clear by a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/13/climate/co2-emissions-rising-again.html?_r=0" target="_blank">new report</a><span class="ext"></span> showing that, after three consecutive years of flat emissions, global CO2 pollution levels are rising again in 2017, with China and its ramped-up coal use being a big reason why.</p>
<p>Curbing the world’s reliance on coal and other fossil fuels continues to be a big litmus test, and COP23 made clear there are disagreements on how quickly that shift will happen. One of the major announcements during COP23 was the formation of the <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/cop23-canada-and-uk-launch-anti-coal-alliance-in-bonn/a-41412516" target="_blank">Powering Past Coal Alliance</a><span class="ext"></span>, a coalition of 20 countries and 15 states committed to phasing out coal power. Participating countries include Canada, the UK, Mexico and Angola, yet big emitters like Germany, China, India and the United States have not yet added their names to the list.</p>
<p>Another important marker in the shift away from fossil fuels was <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/energy/2017/11/19/norways-1-trillion-wealth-fund-looks-dump-oil-gas-stocks/873210001/" target="_blank">Norway’s</a><span class="ext"></span> $1 trillion wealth fund proposing last week to drop oil and gas companies from its benchmark index.</p>
<p>Nineteen member countries of the “Biofuture Platform,” including Brazil, China, Egypt, France, India, Morocco and Mozambique, announced a formal agreement to develop targets for biofuels and a plan to achieve those targets. “Sustainable biofuels can provide solutions to the energy transport nexus. This partnership offers us that chance,” Kyte said.</p>
<p><strong>Two U.S. Delegations</strong></p>
<p>The highest profile moment of COP23’s first week was a major contingent of US companies, governors, mayors and other national leaders meeting at the US Pavilion for an all-day “<a href="https://www.wearestillin.com/" target="_blank">We Are Still In</a>”<span class="ext"></span> rally in support of the Paris accord. California Governor Jerry Brown and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced “America’s Pledge,” an initiative to compile and quantify actions of states, cities and businesses to drive down emissions consistent with the Paris goals. Two days later, the formal U.S delegation representing the Trump administration held a discussion on the merits of embracing coal and other fossil fuels to lift emerging economies out of energy poverty, including countries where electricity does not exist for many people.</p>
<p>Like many, Kyte took strong exception to such claims and offered a quicker, less-costly solution for providing electricity to under-served populations: decentralized renewable energy. “It’s positively possible to bring (renewable energy) solutions to these communities more quickly,” she said. “Adding more coal (power) to centralized electric grids is not a solution.”</p>
<p>Kyte’s remarks came as SEforALL was announcing a first-of-its-kind report highlighting the benefits that countries can expect by providing renewable-based power, such as solar, more quickly to under-served populations. The new <a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/why-wait-report-quantifies-benefits-accelerating-electricity-access"><em>Why Wait? Seizing the Energy Access Dividend</em></a> report uses Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Kenya as examples to showcase how households would save money, improve study times and reduce pollution by using solar power, instead of kerosene, as their primary energy source. The report was produced in partnership with Power for All and the Overseas Development Institute – with generous support from the Wallace Global Fund.</p>
<div style="margin-top: 30px; margin-bottom: 30px;"><img class="img-responsive" src="/sites/default/files/pca-panels2.jpg" style="margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; margin-bottom:10px;" /><span style="font-size: 10pt; display: table; margin: 0 auto;">COP23 Side Event - A People-Centered Accelerator. Left to Right: Tara Shine, Special Adviser, Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, Agnes Leina, Executive Director and founder of Il’laramatak Community Concerns, Linda Davis, Director of Partnerships, wPower Hub, Ajaita Shah, Founder and CEO, Frontier Markets, Lorena Aguilar, Global Senior Gender Adviser-IUCN</span></div>
<p><strong>SEforALL highlights</strong></p>
<p>Other key SEforALL activity and announcements during a busy two weeks in Germany included:</p>
<ul><li><strong>People-Centered Accelerator:</strong> During Gender Day at COP23, SEforALL and dozens of partners launched the People-Centered Accelerator, a partnership-led initiative that aims to advance social inclusion, gender equality and women’s empowerment in sustainable energy efforts globally. The initiative, developed with over 40 organizations from across government, civil society, private sector and finance, aims to gain and improve clean energy access for those who will not be reached with business-as-usual approaches. Key priorities are to: unlock finance; strengthen collaborations between stakeholders concerned with energy, gender and social justice; and increase women’s full participation in sustainable energy solutions globally.</li>
</ul><p>An Accelerator <a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/women-rising-sustainable-energy-and-ending-energy-poverty">side event</a>, featuring a dozen women leaders in sustainable energy efforts around the world, attracted a packed audience.</p>
<ul><li><strong>Opening Doors:</strong> In conjunction with the Accelerator launch, SEforALL announced a <a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/new-mapping-report-scans-global-landscape-gender-equality-social-inclusion-and-sustainable">new report</a> mapping efforts that are already underway to end energy poverty and advance clean energy solutions by empowering women and promoting gender equality and social inclusion. The report, <em>Opening Doors: Mapping the Landscape for Sustainable Energy, Gender Diversity and Social Inclusion</em>, maps the global landscape of support for women and marginalized groups in sustainable energy across organizations, programs and policies. It focuses on 45 countries that are most critical to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 targets, which call for universal access to sustainable energy services by 2030. The <em>Opening Doors</em> report was made possible with funding from the Wallace Global Fund.</li>
<li><strong>The Energy, Cities and Transport Nexus:</strong> In partnership with the Global Covenant of Mayors, C40 and SLoCaT, SEforALL brought together a diverse <a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/urban-energy-transport-nexus-tale-two-hemispheres">panel</a> of global mayors, business executives and national leaders to discuss the growing importance of cities in achieving the Paris goals. California Governor Jerry Brown called for “more elegant landscapes” and curbing cars. Diverse perspectives from mayors in Africa, Europe and South America made it clear that cities face wide-ranging challenges, depending on location and income levels. While wealthy cities like Oslo, Norway can afford ride-sharing lanes and car-free zones, developing cities like Tshwane, South Africa face the fundamental challenge of brutal worker commuting times that eat up more than half of their salaries.</li>
<li><strong>Energy Day:</strong> As part of UNFCCC’s Global Climate Action series, Energy Day was held during the first week of COP23 to highlight success stories and challenges on the path toward a clean, efficient and sustainable energy future. SEforALL hosted a <a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/energy-day-blends-optimism-and-caution-climate-and-energy-access">“State of Play”</a> session that left no doubt that the clean energy transformation is moving forward faster than ever. With speakers from cities and villages in Canada, Nepal and South Africa, to major electric utilities and oil companies in Europe, the conversation showed that momentum on renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy access is gaining unprecedented strength. But far bigger gains are needed. The challenge of achieving the Paris climate goals, while also providing clean, affordable energy to remote regions that still lack any electricity came up time and time again.</li>
</ul><p>Ram Prasad Dhital, Executive Director of the Alternative Energy Promotions Centre in Nepal, cited SEforALL’s recent <a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/energizing-finance-report-series-united-nations-launch">Energizing Finance</a> report showing that energy access finance is going mostly to electric grid infrastructure, not decentralized renewable solutions. “Off-grid solutions are not getting resources,” he said.</p>
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</div></div></div>Wed, 22 Nov 2017 13:20:02 +0000admin6734 at http://www.se4all.org"Why Wait" report quantifies benefits of accelerating electricity accesshttp://www.se4all.org/content/why-wait-report-quantifies-benefits-accelerating-electricity-access
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Nov. 17, BONN, Germany – When you’re visiting a remote village in Africa that’s using solar power instead of kerosene as its only source of energy, it’s easy to see the positive impacts. Financial savings, more time for studying and reduced air pollution are just a few of the obvious dividends from using a pico solar lamp, a home solar system or more robust power from a solar mini grid system.</p>
<p>Now, with yesterday’s release of the <a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/tangible-benefits-accelerating-electricity-access-developing-countries-where-one-billion-still-lack-power">Why Wait? Seizing the Energy Access Dividend</a> report from Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) in partnership with Power for All and the Overseas Development Institute, these benefits can be measured and quantified.</p>
<p>The report, launched at the UN Climate Conference (COP23), makes a powerful case for countries to accelerate efforts to provide decentralized renewable energy services, especially in remote rural areas that will be waiting for many years, if not decades, for centralized electric-grid service to reach them. More than 1 billion people are still living without any access to electricity, most of them in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.</p>
<p>Speaking at an SEforALL hosted side-event at the COP, Rachel Kyte, Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General and CEO of Sustainable Energy for All, said: “For many decision-makers, the default is building grids. It’s pernicious, and it’s expensive. It’s positively possible to bring (renewable energy) solutions to these communities more quickly.”</p>
<p>“It’s a fraction of the time. It takes weeks, if not days,” added Kristina Skierka, CEO of Power for All, referring to how quickly solar services can be provided. “And it will have an exponential effect on jobs and revenues.”</p>
<p>The first-of-its-kind report uses Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Kenya as examples of the dividends that countries can expect by providing quicker access to basic electricity – primarily Tiers 1 and 2 – compared to electric grid-focused electrification strategies. Conventional electrification strategies in countries across Africa and Asia are far behind schedule in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7, which calls for universal access to electricity for all by 2030.</p>
<p>Among the report’s key findings:</p>
<p><strong>Financial savings:</strong> By using solar for lighting and mobile phone charging instead of burning kerosene and paying external phone charging costs, “some households can save up to $10 a month,” said Andrew Scott, the report’s lead author who works at the Overseas Development Institute. “Add that up over a year and you’re seeing substantial savings being freed up for other uses.”</p>
<p><strong>Educational benefits: </strong>By having more light for studying, Scott said, some households will see 20 to 30 more minutes of extra study time every day per student. “Aggregate that over a year and you’ll end up with a significant amount of school time being lost (by delaying electricity access),” Scott said.</p>
<p><strong>Climate benefits:</strong> The data also shows significant climate-related pollution reductions from less kerosene use - as much as 330 million tons cumulatively in Ethiopia, which is roughly the same as the annual emissions from 60 million passenger vehicles.</p>
<p>The collective benefits for countries are also impressive; the estimated extra time for studying, for example, is equivalent to the time sent in school each year of between 142,000 and 2 million students, depending on the country and the time frame to deliver universal energy access.</p>
<p>Kyte’s response to all this was clear: “Why wait if you can advance these solutions?”</p>
<p>The report, supported by Wallace Global Fund, was launched on the same day that 20 countries announced a new coalition committed to phasing out coal from their future power generation, with an aim of having more than 50 countries in the coalition by COP24 in 2018.</p>
<p>“Adding more coal to our centralized grids is not a solution,” Kyte said. “We haven’t reached (these populations) for the last 150 years this way. We’re not going to do it now.”</p>
<p>Read the <em>Why Wait? Seizing the Energy Access Dividend</em> report in full <a href="http://www.seforall.org/WhyWait">here,</a> and follow <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SDG7Dividend/" target="_blank">#SDG7Dividend</a><span class="ext"></span> for more.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>RELATED NEWS</b></p>
<p><a href="http://www.seforall.org/content/tangible-benefits-accelerating-electricity-access-developing-countries-where-one-billion-still-lack-power">New report urges greater use of decentralized renewable energy as quicker, less costly option</a></p>
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</div></div></div>Fri, 17 Nov 2017 16:01:06 +0000admin6732 at http://www.se4all.org Tangible benefits of accelerating electricity access in developing countries where 1 billion still lack powerhttp://www.se4all.org/content/tangible-benefits-accelerating-electricity-access-developing-countries-where-one-billion-still-lack-power
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><em style="font-size: 18pt;">New report urges greater use of decentralized renewable energy as quicker, less costly option</em></p>
<p><em style="font-size: 18pt;">Also reveals evidence of significant black carbon emission reductions</em></p>
<p style="padding-top: 20px;"><strong>BONN, November 16, 2017</strong>: Rural and vulnerable populations in developing countries could miss out on multiple wide-ranging benefits if they are forced to wait years, or even decades, to get access to electricity through first-ever power from the grid instead of through quicker to deploy decentralized renewable energy solutions, according to a report announced by <a href="http://www.seforall.org">Sustainable Energy for All</a> (SEforALL) and <a href="http://www.powerforall.org/" target="_blank">Power for All</a><span class="ext"></span> today.</p>
<p>The <em>“<a href="http://www.seforall.org/sites/default/files/Why_Wait.pdf" target="_blank">Why Wait? Seizing the Energy Access Dividend</a></em><em>”</em><span class="ext"></span> report presents a first-of-its-kind approach to developing a framework for understanding and quantifying the financial, educational and environmental dividends for households through accelerated access to decentralized electricity, such as solar home systems and clean energy mini-grids.</p>
<p>The report indicates that households in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Kenya – which were used as report case studies – can save hundreds of dollars, equivalent to the average annual income of between 61,800 and 406,000 people depending on the country and timeframe to deliver universal access, by bringing electricity access forward through use of solar to power household services like lighting and mobile-phone charging instead of kerosene or costly external phone-charging services.</p>
<p>Another benefit from decentralized services is more time for studying—equivalent to the time spent in school each year of between 142,000 and 2 million students depending on the country and timeframe to deliver universal access.</p>
<p>Announced at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, the data also shows significant black carbon emission reductions across the three countries – as much as 330 million metric tons of CO<sub>2</sub> equivalent emissions, or roughly the emissions from 60 million passenger vehicles driven for one year– due to reduced kerosene use.</p>
<p><em>Why Wait? </em>uses a framework for estimating the dividends of electricity access that is designed to help government leaders and other decision-makers assess the comparative advantages of different electrification options and services – ranging from more limited Tier 1 electricity service (a few hours of power a day) to more robust and costly Tiers 4 and 5 - to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 of universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030.</p>
<p>Speaking on the announcement, <strong>Rachel Kyte, Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General and CEO, Sustainable Energy for All</strong>, said: “Decision makers are faced with competing priorities against finite resources. “Why Wait” provides powerful evidence on the development gains that can be achieved by focusing on integrated energy strategies that advance energy access. Household savings and hours of study time that are won because of access to energy. Denying those gains by not prioritizing solutions to energy access risks holding back whole generations. Decentralized renewable energy is an attractive option for closing the energy access gap quickly, especially for remote rural areas. This work shows it can bring prosperity and education outcomes as well as other services energy provides.”</p>
<p>"Default approaches to electrification that rely on slow, expensive, fossil-fuel-powered centralized generation are out of date and out of time," said <strong>Kristina Skierka, CEO of Power for All.</strong> "The Energy Access Dividend challenges business-as-usual by valuing 'time to access'—for the first time specifying the opportunity cost of large-scale projects that may never reach the 1 billion people around the world who still have to live without the benefits of electricity. Properly supported, decentralized renewable energy can deliver socio-economic dividends faster and at a lower cost."</p>
<p>The report, produced in partnership with the Overseas Development Institute, comes just 12 years ahead of global energy goal deadlines, as many countries remain behind schedule in getting there. Just over one billion people are still living without electricity, according to the latest Global Tracking Framework report issued in May.</p>
<p>Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Kenya were chosen as case studies in the report due to their wide-ranging differences in terms of income levels, demographics and electrification rates. The countries also have significant energy access gaps, accounting for more than 180 million of the one billion people still living without power.</p>
<p>For more information and a full list of partners, please see below or visit our web sites at <a href="http://www.SEforALL.org/WhyWait">SEforALL.org/WhyWait</a> and <a href="http://www.powerforall.org/" target="_blank">PowerForAll.org</a><span class="ext"></span></p>
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<p><strong>CONTACT</strong></p>
<p>For further details on the announcement or any interview requests, please contact;</p>
<p>Beth Woodthorpe-Evans, Sustainable Energy for All: <a href="mailto:beth@SEforALL.org">beth@SEforALL.org</a> | +1 202 390 1042</p>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div>Thu, 16 Nov 2017 08:56:07 +0000admin6731 at http://www.se4all.orgWhy Wait? Seizing the Energy Access Dividend - 2017 (SEforALL, Power for All)http://www.se4all.org/content/why-wait-seizing-energy-access-dividend-2017-seforall-power-all
<div class="field field-name-field-document field-type-file field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="file"><img class="file-icon" alt="PDF icon" title="application/pdf" src="/modules/file/icons/application-pdf.png" /> <a href="http://www.se4all.org/sites/default/files/Why_Wait-Full.pdf" type="application/pdf; length=5532580">Why_Wait-Full.pdf</a></span></div></div></div>Thu, 16 Nov 2017 07:54:12 +0000admin6729 at http://www.se4all.org